Governance and Policy Consultant

The incumbent will work under the guidance and supervision of the Head of Secretariat as a cooling specialist in supporting country engagement activities under the Global Cooling Pledge. The responsibilities include support in facilitating country participation in the working groups, coordinating bilateral needs calls, and contributing to the mobilization of additional signatories. The support will involve coordination and planning for Steering Committee and coordination calls of the Coalition. In addition, under the supervision of the Beat the Heat Programme Manager, the consultant will organize online and in-person capacity building activities, develop knowledge products, analyze data and request from participating cities, and draft project proposals. The consultant will support the Mitigation Branch and contribute to the achievement of the objectives outlined above by providing support in the following areas: 1) Global Cooling Pledge – country engagement (under the supervision of the Head of Secretariat): - Facilitate the participation of signatory countries in the Pledge working groups, including invitations, follow-up and consolidation of country inputs ; - Coordinate bilateral needs calls with signatory countries, including scheduling, briefing notes and documentation of country priorities and support needs ; - Contribute to the mobilization and onboarding of additional signatories, including outreach materials and follow-up with prospective countries ; - Support the coordination and planning of Steering Committee meetings and coordination calls of the Coalition, including agendas, background documents, minutes and follow-up on action points ; 2) Beat the Heat (under the supervision of the Beat the Heat Programme Manager): - Organize online and in-person capacity-building activities for participating cities, including agendas, training materials, speakers and participant follow-up ; - Develop knowledge products on urban heat and sustainable cooling (e.g. guidance notes, case studies, briefs) ; - Analyse data and requests from participating cities and synthesize city needs to inform technical support ; - Draft project proposals and concept notes to mobilize resources for city-level heat action

Hybrid - Paris Office and remote work

6 months

UNEP is accelerating the global transition to sustainable cooling. Getting the right solutions in place for cooling is essential for improving the quality of life and health of people without undue impacts on the planet. Established in 2019 as transformative initiative of the UN Secretary-General’s Climate Action Summit, the Cool Coalition is the global multistakeholder platform to support countries take comprehensive and integrated action on sustainable cooling and thereby deliver on the Paris Agreement, Kigali Amendment and the SDGs. Comprehensive, integrated action is defined as taking joint action on passive cooling, energy efficiency and refrigerant phase down in line with a pathway to cut 60% of emissions from the sector while increasing access to life-saving cooling (UNEP Cool Coalition Global Cooling Watch 2023).   The Coalition convenes expertise across the cooling value chain to collaborate on science, policy and advocacy that underpin political commitments and their implementation and to develop and test methodologies that require demonstration to be later scaled by partners. Since 2024 serves as the secretariat to the Global Cooling Pledge  and its 74 countries, and tracks progress on its targets including through the biannual Global Cooling Watch report which was the science that underpinned the Pledge targets.   A consultant is needed to support the Cool Coalition global coordination of the Global Cooling Pledge activities, including its intergovernmental committee on cooling, the global working group on integrating cooling into NDCs, and developing capacity-building and training toolkits for signatory countries. This also includes the development of knowledge products to accelerate the uptake of sustainable cooling. The consultant will also support the delivery of the Beat the Heat Implementation Drive, including organization of online and in-person capacity building activities, development of knowledge product, analysis of city needs, development of funding proposals.

- Advanced university degree in environmental science, environmental policies or engineering. - At least 1 years of professional experience related to sustainable development, environmental work, urban climate action or sustainable cooling (including refrigeration, air conditioning and passive cooling solutions). Prior experience working with international stakeholder groups and industry players in the sustainability or HVAC industry. Technical understanding of passive cooling, cooling products, environmental and energy impacts of cooling appliances, as well as products development and innovation needed to reduce environmental impacts, is highly desirable.

o Fluency in spoken and written English is required.

Not available.